The Gospel of Women's Health: Awakening Athena Again

By MD Kenna Stephenson

A human artist with an eternal passion for patient care, Dr. Kenna Stephenson thrives on helping others achieve well-being, whatever their circumstances. Her career has spanned private practice, community/rural medicine, the creation of a holistic health center for female veterans, employee health, and academic medicine. A founding member and me

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenna Stephenson
• Release date: Jan 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9781958405048

Book preview

Praise for the Work of Dr. Kenna Stephenson

"Dr. Kenna Stephenson’s book brings new insights from traditional and alternative medicine to help women of every age thrive. The insights from The Gospel of Women’s Health cannot be found anywhere else and are easily applied to improve health and happiness."

—Paul J. Zak, PhD. Professor,

author of Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and Source of Happiness

www.getimmersion.com

"In The Gospel of Women’s Health: Awakening Athena Again, Dr. Kenna Stephenson brings years of experience and practical advice to this essential reframing of women’s health. Her book is a much-needed guide for women seeking to take charge of their medical journey – providing tools to navigate a system often biased against women’s complaints. What I found most valuable is her specific, up-to-the-minute information on alternative, scientifically proven treatments and lifestyle hacks that aim to help women stay healthy and vibrant at every stage of life."

—Nicole Lucas Haimes

Documentary Filmmaker, Hollywood

"Dr. Kenna is a healer as this book reveals. Her approach to finding out what’s really going on inside her patients based on an understanding of who they are and how they live expands the medical art of treating symptoms into the universal art of healing souls. I personally experienced her practice – it was magical. Dr. Kenna’s revolutionary rediscovery of ancient wisdom is just what our world needs. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to live their best life. I can’t wait until she publishes The Gospel of Men’s Health!"

—Colonel Michael C. Ryan

former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe, The Pentagon

"I have known Dr. Stephenson for more than fifteen years and she is one of the finest clinician researchers I know. She is a dedicated seeker after the truth and brings her unique perspectives and experience to bear once again in her book, The Gospel of Women’s Health: Awakening Athena Again. It’s a must-read for anyone wanting a book on hormone replacement authored by a smart, caring, sincere expert."

—George Gillson, MD, PhD

Rocky Mountain Functional Medicine Consulting Inc., Canada

"I met Kenna when we were both lecturing on a cruise ship. I attended all her lectures and recognised her commitment to serve and help others. I have listened to audio excerpts from Kenna’s new book, The Gospel of Women’s Health: Awakening Athena Again. I found the book interesting, and it provides good advice for a happier, more fulfilled life.

It is essential reading for every woman who wants to achieve ultimate happiness and service to others."

—Stuart Tipple, Soliciter in Greater Sydney, Australia

author of The Dingo Took Over My Life: A Lawyer’s Journey

and #1 True Crime Podcast in Australia, A Perfect Storm

"In this modern world, women are being overmedicated in the pursuit of health and wellbeing. Kenna’s model of care challenges the status quo and offers an enlightening journey through the power of a healthy lifestyle and hormone therapy. Backed by science and practice, The Gospel of Women’s Health shows women of all ages and stages of life how to take control of their physical, emotional, and spiritual health – a Must Read!"

—Maria Carvalho, PharmD, MRPharmS, PhD, Luxembourg

Compounding advocate, wife, mother

Author of Compounding Practices in Europe

"Dr Kenna Stephenson’s The Gospel of Women’s Health: Awakening Athena Again is essential reading for all health professionals involved in women’s health. Too often the provision of healthcare is paternalistic and at times patronizing, Dr Stephenson’s patient centric approach shifts the power to the patient and truly redefines the model of care. Kenna’s holistic care is both data driven and scientifically anchored by decades of evidence. Kenna doesn’t treat conditions or ailments, she treats patients, she knows that no two patients are ever the same and each require a personalized plan, a plan that seeks to balance the physical, the emotional and the spiritual. Dr Stephenson has lectured and mentored in Australia for over two decades, her leadership in the field of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy has helped shape the practice of integrated medicine worldwide.

—Professor Trent Twomey

School of Medicine & Dentistry James Cook University, Australia

National President – The Pharmacy Guild of Australia

Vice President – The World Pharmacy Council

"Dr Kenna Stephenson’s audiobook, The Gospel of Women’s Health: Awakening Athena Again, is a thought-provoking treasure trove of information that delivers important, easy-to-understand and insightful advice for women who are journeying through the hormonal tapestry and challenges of womanhood. An opponent of the ‘drugs first’ approach that is prevalent in conventional Western General Medical Practice, Dr Stephenson highlights brilliantly how her evidence-based strategies focus on correctional nutritional, lifestyle and bio-identical hormone interventions, to deliver long-lasting health results. Dr Stephenson highlights examples of how many doctors are far too hasty in reaching for prescription drugs and fail to delve deep enough into their patient’s history to uncover the real – and easily treatable – reasons behind their conditions. A medical doctor and cited author of published studies, Dr Stephenson can rightly be considered as a specialist and thought leader of natural healthcare in this field and this audiobook is a brilliant follow-on from her previous book, Awakening Athena. Having travelled the world as a celebrated practitioner and specialist, Dr Stephenson has dedicated herself to the needs of women from a wide cross-section of indigenous, cultural, economic and social groups spanning many decades.

As an advocate of nutritional and lifestyle-led medicine, along with an impressive knowledge of hormones and bio-identical topical therapeutic treatments, Dr Stephenson shows there is a better way to approaching women’s health and embracing, not shunning the important and defining hormonal-led stages that half of us encounter. A true advocate and champion of women, Dr Stephenson’s book offers wonderful wisdom and evidence-led strategies for women to regain control of their health.

—Fleur Cushman, United Kingdom and New Zealand

Entrepreneur and founder of Health Currancy (www.curranz.com)

From my perspective as a patient and as a biomedical researcher, I think that Dr. Stephenson is very much on the right track, and I would hope that her approach to women’s health can contribute successfully to the health and well-being of women and men of all ages.

—Donald Stein, PhD.

Asa G. Candler Professor and Distinguished Professor (Emeritus)

Emory University, author of Brain Repair

"There’s something about listening to Dr. Kenna Stephenson reading from her new book, The Gospel of Womens’ Health that stirs up empowering thoughts, the confidence to challenge doctors who aren’t listening to us and the determination to insist that they do!

Supported by science, case studies and her own original, groundbreaking research, we are gifted with a new understanding of the feminine lifecycle vs. allowing ourselves to be defined solely by our reproductive status. Dr. Stephenson calls upon us to refuse to be preyed upon by old school doctors who make diseases out of normal changes in a woman’s life and overprescribe harmful synthetic hormones. And she encourages us to trust in our own powers of intuition and self-healing to take back control of our health. This is not your ordinary listening experience, but rather a voice of conviction that aims to ignite women’s very own Athena wisdom and inner guidance towards finding hormonal health and balance at every age and stage of our lives."

—Candace Burch, M.A.

YourHormoneBalance.com

Kenna is such a charming, dynamic, empowering presence – indeed she is an Athena, herself. I love the encouragement to skip around in the book so each subsection of women can quickly find her own relevancy in the book. As is so often said now in the media, social scientists, politics: no group is a monolith. This feature of Kenna’s invitation to read her book that way is an excellent application of what we now know people feel when put into a monolithic category, in my view.

—Pamela Bateman,

Founder, The Seventh Woman

Producer, Hormone Matters

Washington, DC/Austin, TX

Listening to this book, I understood the importance of not only teaching myself about women’s health but sharing the knowledge to others to be better allies for the women in our lives.

—Josh Leal,

Sound Engineer Sun Studios of Arizona

Dr. Stephenson’s new book is a beautifully written work and is for anyone who truly cares about achieving good health and healing and taking ownership of their lives. Powerful and insightful, well documented and well written. I urge everyone to read it and watch their lives and happiness increase manifold.

—Max Stanley Chartrand, Ph. D,

CSP (Behavioral Medicine)

"The Gospel of Women’s Health is a timely book that empowers women to take control of their own health and well-being in the post COVID era. Using a holistic approach to medicine, Dr. Kenna provides clear and practical approaches for women to deal with health issues that are part of daily life including methods for maintaining and improving mental health, which is often disregarded in the medical community as related to women’s health. Case studies include the dramatic change in the physical and mental health of a 65-year-old woman presenting with numerous ailments resulting from years of self-neglect. Dr. Kenna’s unique and personalized treatment regimen produces results that are nothing short of life changing and demonstrate the power of Dr. Kenna’s holistic medicine approach. The case study of a 68-year-old woman care giver for her husband, describes the emotional, mental, and physical health issues that often afflict long-term care givers. Dr. Kenna prescribes a treatment regimen that focuses on counteracting stress using numerous self-care techniques, with remarkable results. The Gospel of Women’s Health is a must-read for women as well as men that care about the women in their lives.

—Pierre Neuenschwander, PhD, FAHA

Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler

Dr. Stephenson’s opening statement that the modern medical establishment preys on women, just grabbed me immediately to hear more of what she had to say. And more she did. Dr. Stephenson is an inspiration for all woman of any age, and thereby all of us men too! She both delights us with historical perspectives, clinical data, inspirations and anecdotes. The Chapter on The Power of Touch really affirmed many opinions I had about touch, and her clinical research of Biotouch as an option for reinstating the power of touch into our healthcare system is uplifting and brings me hope. Each chapter and every word will inspire. I look forward to women reclaiming their power through their own intuition of knowing what is right for them. Which, of course, will be passed on to men in our world. Kenna gives us all kinds of options, and all based on clinical research. She confirms over and over the desire to choose the path for fulfillment in achieving a better level of health for yourself and your loved ones. She truly awakens the healing wisdom that resides within ourselves and illuminates the path to transforming our world.

—Paul Bucky

Executive Director/Founder International Foundation of Bio-Magnetics

Bio-Touch Healing – JustTouch.com

Dedication

To my husband, Douglas,

who has given me encouragement and hope

To my children, who have given me life’s greatest joy

To my mother, Julia Beth, who loved me always and whose belief in me never faltered.

To Kristine and Barbara, whose loyal friendship sustains and uplifts me.

Acknowledgements

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It has been a sacred experience to have cared for the patients who are anonymous contributors to this book. The stories shared in The Gospel of Women’s Health Awakening Athena Again are those of many girls and women whom I have known professionally and personally during the last 30 years. The privilege of sharing their pain, struggle, trauma, hope, and transformation has been a humbling experience. It is my hope that by giving voice to the physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery of the patients profiled here, The Gospel of Women’s Health will be a comfort and inspiration to others. To all of those women, thank you.

Contents

Praise for the Work of Dr. Kenna Stephenson

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Jerimy Blowers, Ph.D, LMCH

Introduction

1. Taking Control of Your Health

2. The Feminine Life Cycle

3. The Golden Mean of Athena: Living a Balanced Life

4. Healing Images: Dreamwork – Cinematherapy – Sandtray Therapy

5. The Value of Handwork

6. Creating Hormonal Balance

7. The Power of Touch

Appendix A: Case Reports — Girls, Adolescents, and Young Adults

Appendix B: Case Reports — Adulthood to Midlife

Appendix C: Case Reports — Midlife and Beyond

Appendix D: Presentations and Workshops by the Author

Index

About the Author

Foreword

Dr. Kenna Stephenson is a true champion of women’s healthcare and the pursuit of a care model relying on compassion and connection with the patient. As a professional who genuinely understands the vital difference between listening to a patient’s story instead of merely hearing a patient’s symptoms, Dr. Stephenson leads the way in correcting the damage caused by years of patriarchal practice in the medical field. Her whole-person approach to treatment and enthusiasm for breaking through the confines of mundane and limiting frameworks is refreshing. The Gospel of Women’s Health is a modern classic, empowering all women to reclaim what is rightfully theirs; to trust their own intuition, living fully and confidently. From the presentation of creative treatment techniques to quips of invaluable wisdom and case studies, this work is not only recommended, but belongs on every competent provider’s shelf. Her prescription of love, faith, intuition, and service remain valuable lessons to us all.

As with all great pioneers of truth, ushering in a new era of thinking is essential for changing a landscape rooted in outdated ideas and practices. This takes courage, persistence, and a true desire to illuminate the shadows obscuring new and exciting directions. Like Galileo’s gaze beginning a new era of sight and thought about our place in the universe, Dr. Stephenson’s insights pioneer a new era in our thinking as health professionals and as powerful stewards of our own well-being.

As a behavioral healthcare professional of over twenty years, I consider it a privilege to provide the foreword for this book. She is a quintessential author, educator, and mentor who genuinely practices what she teaches. As her former student, her guidance and wisdom changed the way in which I saw the health professions and that mentorship continues to guide my practice today. I felt restricted to the models introduced in my previous training and education, convinced that this was the only avenue to accomplish my mission as a helping professional. When I met Dr. Stephenson, a professor that I deeply admired and respected, I was introduced to an entirely different way of thinking. One that empowered me to use my own intuition and skill in a way that felt right in serving my patient’s best interest. This freedom allowed me the confidence and aptitude to more fully engage in practice and remain attentive to the diversity and equity work needed in the field. I have no doubts that this book will change lives as well. As my first course with Dr, Stephenson forever changed my outlook, it is my distinct honor in providing the foreword to a work that will undoubtedly change yours.

Dr. Jerimy Blowers, Ph. D, LMHC

Associate Professor/Coordinator of Wellness and Intervention Services,

Member State University of New York Mental Health and Wellness Advisory Board

SUNY Cayuga, Touro University, Psychology – South University, Health Sciences

Introduction

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Medicine in the 21 st century preys on women through performing unnecessary procedures, prescribing excessive synthetic medications, and making diseases out of normal changes in a woman’s life. The current standard of care for women manufactures fear and anxiety that drives women to comply with harmful treatments and in doing so women go against their own intuition and inner guidance. 1.2 billion women will become menopausal by the year 2030, and women deserve to know the truth about the art and science of women’s health and how to create the best level of physical, emotional, and spiritual health for the decades to come.

The Gospel of Women’s Health is filled with solutions, clear answers, and expert guidance for girls from age 7 to women in their 90s in how to deal with problems and health concerns of daily life. Practical and affordable solutions are presented for you, the reader, and every recommendation is supported by strong clinical research and science. My book includes foot-noted references for health care professionals who wish to apply my model of care. This book is timeless and timely and has changed lives worldwide in its revelation of the truth about women’s health.

Case studies illustrate the diagnosis, treatment and recovery from common conditions including obesity, stress, burn-out, high blood pressure, headaches, depression, anxiety, heart disease, fibromyalgia, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The Gospel of Women’s Health will prepare you for health care conversations to expertly navigate among the predators in the medical system who seek to destroy the vitality of women. I will assist you in becoming a believer in your own intuition and ability to advocate for yourself and the women you love, as we awaken the Athena wisdom of self-healing and reclaim our birthright of women’s well-being at all ages and stages of life.

Yesterday afternoon a new patient arrived in the clinic stating that her husband had scheduled the appointment because he knew that I would sincerely address her health concerns. Although her husband had never met me, he had read about me and felt confident that she would get the answers that she was seeking. The patient nervously began sharing the story of the decline in her health as she clutched a folder with her test results. She shared that after obtaining health insurance she went to the doctor for a physical exam.

The doctor ordered multiple tests and based on their interpretation of results prescribed multiple synthetic drugs and insisted on inserting a hormone pellet under her skin. The patient was unable to interpret or understand her test results, and the fear generated by the doctors suppressed her own intuition about her health. For the first time in her life, she began taking multiple synthetic drugs. Her hair began falling out in clumps, her joints and muscles began to ache, her energy level and stamina wilted, and she struggled with obtaining a restful sleep. When she reported these changes to the doctors, they responded with recommending more prescribed drugs and more tests. After listening to her experience, I conducted a physical exam, and carefully reviewed the copies of her results.

One by one I reassured her that her numbers were acceptable – even excellent in some values. My recommendation was that she should stop all of the prescription drugs and regain her health and well-being through lifestyle changes. This tragic example is one of thousands with similar themes repeated over and over throughout my career which has spanned five decades, multiple settings, states, and countries in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Women are increasingly maltreated and disrespected by medical providers today.

Women must empower themselves against the madness, mayhem, and bikini focus of women’s medicine, and The Gospel of Women’s Health is your guide in the battle for your best health.

This book is written so that you, the reader, may skip around and read what is relevant for you in the moment. If you are new to reading about health care topics, you may want to begin with the A, B, C’s. Appendix A is case studies beginning with girls and continuing to young adulthood. Appendix B concentrates on women from their 30s to 50s and common health conditions and challenges in this phase of life. Appendix C focuses on women aged 60 and beyond and their unique experiences of aging, retirement, caregiving, downsizing, widowhood, and frailty.

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, and its imposed isolation and touch deprivation, Chapter 7 brings valuable relevant information that may immediately benefit you and your loved ones. It focuses on my research projects investigating Bio-Touch, a touch therapy that is so simple that a child may learn it. In using this readily available technique, all women may help their loved ones with pain and stress. We must restore touch to our families and community and this modality is a safe and effective path to bring societal healing.

Chapter 1 guides you in how to take control of your health. Your body, your numbers, and your health choices belong to you the patient. You will learn the principles of women’s health and how to effectively communicate your health concerns through case study examples that demonstrate the importance of listening to your intuition and inner guidance.

Chapter 2 proposes a new understanding of the Feminine Life Cycle in contrast to the traditional medical focus which solely defines a woman by her reproductive status. By centering themselves on values of love, faith/intuition and service, women may thrive and flourish in any life circumstance and become an inspiration for others. Specific ages and stages of a woman’s life are discussed from birth to 90 and beyond.

Working women who face the double day of completing a shift to receive a paycheck followed by 20-40 hours of work weekly in the home are suffering from stress, burnout, and fatigue. Solutions for creating balance in the face of demands of work and family are presented in Chapter 3 including helpful comments from women research participants in my working women study.

Chapter 4 focuses on healing images of dreams, sandtray and film. As part of the post pandemic recovery, I have lead dream workshops and sandtray exercises in the community at large with male and female participants ranging in age from 20s to 70s. As these previous strangers gathered to share their dreams, they expressed feeling connected and gained fresh insights and realizations.

My practice of medicine has revealed that dreams help patients to access inner resources and resolve conflicts in their waking life. Dreams are powerful tools and may unlock psychological or spiritual bondage to resurrect sources of hope. Dreams are a vital resource to self-empowerment, hope and healing and are freely available to us wherever we are in this world.

This chapter includes case studies illuminating the power of dreams to guide, affirm, heal, and reveal. My sandtray research with women veteran patients as an exercise to connect inner and outer worlds reveals the power of images to bring awareness, insight, and transformation. This chapter also discusses my practice of writing cinematherapy prescriptions for patients, and a movie might be just what you need to transform your outlook!

Chapter 5 highlights creativity through handwork as a hallmark of health and a secret weapon for women worldwide. Knitting, crocheting, sewing, weaving, beading, wood working, and sculpting, and the associated health benefits are shared along with case studies. An ancient practice for a modern world, I prescribe handwork every day for patients at all ages and stages of health. Creating brings vitality, hope and beauty to our world and is an antidote to the angst generated by worldwide events.

Chapter 6 focuses on hormone balance which is essential to optimal health for women of all ages. A century ago, most women did not live past their menopause years and today women are living decades past the menopausal transition and this chapter offers guidance on the safe and appropriate use of hormone therapy.

Today younger women are experiencing more hormone imbalance due to environmental and lifestyle factors. Progesterone is essential to brain and heart health and is the most frequent hormone deficiency that I diagnose. This chapter defines the sex hormones, the stress hormones, and the symptoms of hormone imbalance. Solutions for treatment including a formulary are shared.

This chapter is an excellent reference for transgender patients, and I use it today as a guide in their treatment. Recent research reveals that women with hormone balance are less vulnerable to infections such as COVID-19 and my research confirms the beneficial effects on the immune system of my Hormone Restoration Model of Care as revealed in my landmark research on compounded bio-identical hormones in women ages 30-70 over a 36-month period.

Appendix D highlights my publications over the last decade and their implications and guidance for creating health at all ages and stages. Resources are shared for becoming a part of my future research projects and scheduling a presentation or workshop in your community.

The fact that you are reading this introduction right now confirms your desire to choose the path to fulfillment in achieving a better level of health for yourself and those you love.

The Gospel of Women’s Health awakens the healing wisdom that resides within you the reader and illuminates the path of transforming your world.

Chapter 1

Taking Control of Your Health

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Athena was the Greek goddess of war and wisdom. In battle, she used her intellect and imagination in strategic planning to bring victory. This chapter is dedicated to Joan Furey, who in 1994 was appointed the first director of the Center for Women Veterans in the US Department of Veterans Affairs. As a young woman, Joan awakened her Athena archetype when she volunteered to serve our country during wartime as an Army nurse in Vietnam.

Like Athena, she embodied the Army nurse motto: Ready, caring, proud. Since her retirement from the military, Joan has battled tirelessly on behalf of US women veterans on many fronts: to ensure that they receive services and benefits equal to those bestowed on male veterans, to create awareness of gender-specific health care and issues unique to women veterans, and to include women veterans in all veterans’ programs, including medical research.

The Effects of Gender-Biased Treatment

Gender bias in American medical care exists. As a result, many physicians and their women patients have journeyed down the wrong path of diagnosis and treatment. Gender disparity is also evident in medical research and in the types of therapy provided to men and women. For example, although cardiovascular disease kills 43,000 more American women than men each year, cardiovascular research has been conducted almost exclusively in men, and most cardiac procedures (thrombolysis, catheterization, angioplasty, bypass surgery, stenting) are performed in men.¹-⁴ ¹ ² ³ ⁴

In 2003, researchers at the Mayo Clinic surveyed 204 women in several regions of the United States who were hospitalized for chest pain and were subsequently discharged with a diagnosis of heart disease.⁵ Fifty-two percent of the respondents reported dissatisfaction with their physicians. Some women had been treated with condescension or abruptness; others had been wrongly diagnosed and their symptoms of cardiac disease had been attributed initially to panic disorder, the effects of psychologic stress, or hypochondria. In the United States, the gender bias in treatment for various diseases is related to multiple factors, but women patients can be proactive about their own health care without waiting for support from the research and medical communities.

Before 1990, almost all research trials for new drugs were performed solely in men. Women were excluded from participation in such studies because the aberrations of menstruation, menopause, pregnancy, or breast-feeding were thought to skew results. Because of that exclusion, women patients now receive many drugs tested in and approved as safe for men, although gender-specific physiologic differences can affect the response to treatment. Unfortunately, drug-related adverse effects that occur only in women are often discounted by physicians.

In 1992, the Office on Women’s Health was established in the US Department of Health and Human Services as the government’s champion and focal point for women’s health issues.⁶

That office, in conjunction with various women’s consumer groups such as the Society for the Advancement of Women’s Health Research, has demanded more rigorous research of women’s health issues, the inclusion of women of all ages and ethnic groups in research studies, and federal laws mandating that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include women (even menstruating women) in all phases of research on new drugs designed to treat both men and women.

Over the last decade, these efforts have generated research studies illuminating gender-distinct differences in brain and cardiac function, pain pathways, and the response to emotional stress.¹-⁴, ⁷-¹⁷

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

If the results from such research are regarded seriously, diagnostic testing and therapies better designed to treat female patients will be made available. Until that time (and as a general rule as well), women must insist that their physicians respond appropriately if treatment seems ineffective or adverse effects occur.

The Premrose Path

In the past, many prescribing practices for American women were based on less-than-scientific study. Between 1949 and 2002, much of the available drug therapy for perimenopausal and menopausal women was dictated more by economics, marketing, and advertising than by the scientific evidence of safety for the patient.

For example, Premarin (conjugated equine estrogens derived from the urine of pregnant mares) and Prempro (a combination of Premarin plus medroxyprogesterone acetate, which is a synthetic progestin) were long considered standard treatment for menopausal symptoms.

Because Premarin is derived from an animal source, its molecular structure is different from that of the estrogen produced